TS meals - painfully long

[mdurette]

Wow - just got back and I couldn't believe how long the TS meals took! Service was much slower than in the past. All of our TS meals took between 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/4 hours. In LeCellier and Prime Time it got so bad I actually went looking for our waiter. I know they have a hiring freeze right now - do you think they are bit short staffed?

 

[forgop]

Wow - just got back and I couldn't believe how long the TS meals took! Service was much slower than in the past. All of our TS meals took between 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/4 hours. In LeCellier and Prime Time it got so bad I actually went looking for our waiter. I know they have a hiring freeze right now - do you think they are bit short staffed?

I only did Disney just under a year ago with TS meals each evening and felt everything was ok. When I go back in May with just my wife, I think we're going to stress with the server that we have a certain time frame that we have to be done with dinner. Servers like that because the quicker they turn, the more they can make. I don't want to spend more than 60-75 minutes for any of our meals next time around unless we're just worn out and want a little extra break.

 

[bobbyshawatl]

It may be the restaurants... I was there at the beginning of the month. I only did 3 table service restaurants while there -- Whispering Canyon Cafe for lunch, Sci-Fi Diner for lunch, and Nine Dragons for dinner. At WCC and 9D, service was very quick and attentive. Only at the Sci-Fi did it get kind of long. The waiter got our order and drinks pretty quickly, and our food came fast, but he dissapeared for quite a while -- ran out of drinks, and then took a LONG time to get our check. Not sure how long the movie is in there, but we got to see most of it twice.

 

[catne]

Never been to Prime Time, but our meal at Le Cellier in May was just under 1.5 hours...and we had a waitress in training (introduced to us that way.) I think it may just have been bad luck on the wait staff you had for all of your meals to take so long. One and 1/2 hours to well over 2 hours is not the norm at most Dis restaurants. In fact, seems like there's a lot more complaints about people feeling they were rushed through their meals. Except for Signature dining places...those consistently run in the 2+ hours, but I think that's supposed to be part of the fine dining experience you're paying for there.

I know with our TS meals in May & then in September,a few seemed too long (signature dining, we won't be repeating those), and a few seemed to be rushed. But most were about right for us - I'd say the average time was about 1 hr. 15 min.

For your next trip, I would suggest if you know you're on a tight schedule you might want to schedule a buffet for that meal so you can have better control over the timing. If you don't do buffets, make sure to tell your waiter as soon as you're seated that you only have whatever length of time to eat.

 

[ms_missy66]

I definitely agree with the pp about letting the wait staff know if you're in a hurry. We've definitely had time limits and always got out in time for our next thing within reason. I mean a TS is going to take more than 30 minutes, of course. But if you had 1 hour, for example, I'm thinking they could accomodate you.

 

[disprincessatheart]

I always plan 2 hrs per TS meal in a park, but i include in that the time from check in to walking out the door. We're usually pretty close to that, even at buffets

 

[Lynne M]

I think it's best to let the waitstaff know if you have a timing issue and need to get out in a hurry. Some people want to be in and out in a hurry, others prefer to relax and linger over the meal.

You see complaints from both sides on these boards...people who felt the server rushed them through their meal, and others who felt that it took too long. It's better to make your wishes known.

 

[disnut8]

A typical table service meal from the "old days" went like this. You are led to your table, your drink orders are taken and you are given menus. When your drinks arrive, you then order appetizers. The appetizers are delivered and you eat them and then order your entree which comes with a soup or salad. Those are delivered when you are finished with those, your entree arrives. After you are done with that, you order dessert, eat that, pay the bill and leave. And usually somewhere in there, you order a bottle of wine and go through all that.

In today's times, we are in way too much of a hurry to do all that. We want our drinks on the table within minutes of arrival, we order our appetizers and entree at the same time, we expect our food to be out one thing after another, order dessert halfway through the entree so it can be at the table right after, the bill needs to be there before we are finished eating and taken care of within minutes.

Those are the extremes. How you eat your dinner is up to you. Disney menus are all over the internet and posted outside each restaurant. You can know before you even are seated what you want to eat. Order right away if you don't have a lot of time. If you can't find your server, talk to another one. Or, worst case, go back to the host stand and get them to find the server.

Bottom line, you make your own meal choices with the time.

 

[KatMark]

We were there in September and we were in and out of all but one table service meal within and hour or hour and 15 minutes--and that was with relaxing a little. The only one that was longer was Whispering Canyon Cafe--we were there for 90 minutes (and that didn't count the 35 minutes we waited to be seated)--and the food and service were absolutely terrible.

 

[Luv4Disney]

WOW! I've never been at ANY TS restaurant for that amount of time. Hope it's OK in December.

 

[Terapin]

I found that the TS did take awhile. Sometimes that was nice and part of the charm. Sometimes I used that time to go get a fastpass while the kids were finishing up with DH. Or I'd make yet another trip to the bathroom (woman + 3 births = lots of bathroom trips).

But I really resent waiting for the bill. Nowadays, when I feel like we have waited for the bill long enough, I simply stand up and start to get our family of 5 ready to go. Never ceases to amaze me how the bill shows up good and fast. I would *never* pull a runner, but would start to waive down waitstaff if we were all ready to go and no bill still.

 

[budbeerlady]

Our meal at Chefs took almost 2 hours. I was dying.... I dont have that much sit in me. The only place that was speedy, and I mean speedy was Tuto. They were flying and we were in and out in under an hour. That was fine with us, we didnt feel rushed and it was nice not to have to wait so long for the payment, etc.

When did they change things? They used to take our card for DP and swipe it and leave it to sign. Now they brought me a bill, took my card, swiped it, brought it back for me to sign. It added some time to the whole thing.

This trips smart idea helped but not too much with saving time. I had all sorts of change for the tip with me all the time. (Since we dont use room charge.) Last trip we had to wait for change from time to time. It was a bit of a pain and I had never thought about it until we arrived.

 

[EnnEss]

Wow, thats a long time OP. I always find them to be overly quick.

Ive served at a few places. If your bill is slow, stand up and go to the front. Even if its not slow and you're in a hurry, just do that. The server will think one of two things (or should). One, they were too slow and now youre a bit miffed, part of their tip might have evaporated because they were too slow (if this is the result of a staffing issue you can be sure their boss will hear about it, ive quit places that understaff because it leads to bad service and bad tips for me, if owners want to cut corners they end up with bad servers).

Two, you were in a hurry and just wanted to go right away. If the server was on top of your table they'll know you just finished and left and you gave them no chance to bring the bill, so they'll assume you're not mad, just really rushed, ideally you tell them this, there is no way to read your mind, also realize if you dont indicate you're done somehow it can be hard to tell, particularly if you have kids still playing with/eating food. If you eat with napkins on your lap, put them on the table. If there are a bunch of you though and kids are still picking or other party members are, its not bad to indicate to the server via a nod, or eye contact.

Either way, the front of every restaurant can and will get your bill fairly quickly.

 

[RMulieri]

I just got back in Sept and i had no problems, we were in and out in 45 mins to 1 hr tops..and this during free dining.

 

[Abharmagic]

YES!!!!! I agree.... TS meals are loooonnnnngggggg..... so long that I often get antsy, not to mention my kids.

 

[forgop]

I wouldn't have the patience to sit at a TS meal for 2 hours with so much other stuff I could be doing around the parks. I'd been a server in my previous life, so I can tell whether someone is doing their job or not. I'll let each one of my servers know I have 1hr15m for our meals...anything longer than that and their tip gets docked 5% for each 15 minute increment(I won't tell this part up front). It may seem rude, but I'm not going to lose 45 minutes because of a slow server.

 

[mdurette]

"I'll let each one of my servers know I have 1hr15m for our meals...anything longer than that and their tip gets docked 5% for each 15 minute increment"

I'm the OP and YES there were two places that I really wanted to cut their tip down because they just disappeared - but we were a party over 6 and they automatically put 18% down. Maybe that was the reason why - they already knew they were going to get 18%.

For our next trip in January I am going to be sure to tell the staff that I need to be out in an hour. I think that is a great tip.

 

[RMulieri]

"I'll let each one of my servers know I have 1hr15m for our meals...anything longer than that and their tip gets docked 5% for each 15 minute increment"

I'm the OP and YES there were two places that I really wanted to cut their tip down because they just disappeared - but we were a party over 6 and they automatically put 18% down. Maybe that was the reason why - they already knew they were going to get 18%.

For our next trip in January I am going to be sure to tell the staff that I need to be out in an hour. I think that is a great tip.

I am sure they will be as accomodating as they can if you phrase it kindly...like " i have another appt,ressie, etc in an hour would it be possible to have us finished by then?"If you go in with the attitude "I need to be out of here in 1 hr..or I am going to dock your tip every few mins It is over the time limit" you are setting yourself for spitting in your food.I agree they should be prompt and not disappear( I have experienced the lost waiter myself).but sometimes thing happen that can not be helped.I worked in the service area before I was an Rn, and can tell you people that were rude from the get go or nasty and impatient ,I would deliberately take my time with.Some of my co-workers would do worse.

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

I've done a lot of TS meals (they are the norm instead of the exception with my family) and i've never been in the restaurant longer than 1 hour 1/2 tops.

If you are in a *hurry*, you can always ask your server to bring the check along with your entrees or desserts. I do this all the time when I'm pressed for time. I've found that some servers do not want to 'rush' you through your meal to present the check. When I get the check with my dessert, I just sign and as soon as I'm done eating we're gone!

Granted we are a family who has done Disney so many times that for us the TS is an integral part of the experience, but I figured I'd pass on that tip to some folks who could use it.